Pendant

After the prolonged and destructive Thirty Years War of 1618–48, Europe split into a Catholic south and a Protestant north. This led to an increase in the number of pilgrimage sites in the Catholic area, and a massive expansion in the production of religious medals, crosses and souvenir jewellery, often in a form that was specific to a particular holy site. Worshippers believed that images of saints or the Virgin and Child could work miracles and offer protection against illness or the dangers of travel. Women in Catholic countries commonly wore crosses and other religious objects as jewellery with their traditional dress.

The medallion in this pendant has the Virgin of Loreto on one side and five saints on the other. Loreto was a major Italian pilgrimage site, popular with pilgrims from Austria and southern Germany as well as Italy, which was believed to contain the Casa Santa, the house in which the Virgin had lived in Nazareth.